Past-Present-Future

Looking Back-Moving Forward

Stored Treasures, a Memoir is my personal quest into the past. Not just any pastâmy past. True, not exactly my past, but my familyâs history. My husband and children, struggled to understand this obsession I developed. Warning! Genealogy is extremely addictive. âMommy, when are you going to finish your research?â asked the youngest of my three sons, late one evening as he was trying to pull me away form the computer screen. He had a very good point? It was his bed time after all, and instead of spending quality time with him, during his last few waking moment, here I was slapping away a the keyboard. How does one explain to a ten year old, that investigating our past is a never ending project? I

I stepped away from the computer, tucked my son to bed, and thought about how the need to understand the past has changed my life. I know that my research into our roots, is a healthy additciton. The good news for me, Iâm not alone in my obsession. Turns out, there are almost twenty million Americans actively researching their roots and a hundred million more have interest in doing so. But why are some of us fascinated with the past, while others focus on the future? Is learning about where you come from essential for the present?

The best way I found to explain my infatuation with the past, was to write a book.

At first, I did not intend to write a book. I actually set out to make a family tree. The task seemed simple, yet the more names I filled in, the more I names I realized I didnât know. I began digging. I removed cob webs from boxes nearly forgotten at the back of attics. I wrote and called long lost relatives, and I learned the cob webs can be removed very quickly on the internet. I made some amazing discoveries. Holocaust records, photos taken more than a century ago. But the most amazing of all, was my great-grandmotherâs journals.

The first time I read Minnieâs journals I knew that I found so much more than what I was looking for. I found a way to explain to the world, why looking into oneâs past, is how we connect to the present and find a direction for our future.